PhD Position - Rethinking Frequency Control in Power Systems

This position is part of the NCCR Automation. The position is hosted by the Power Systems Laboratory (PSL) and the Institute for Automation (IfA) in the Department of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering.  

In the Power Systems Laboratory (PSL), we develop approaches to optimally plan and operate the electric power system. The core objective is to provide the methods to enable the secure integration of the increasing amount of renewable generation which are needed for a sustainable energy system. 

In the Automatic Control Laboratory (IfA), we develop methods and tools to model, design, control and assess complex systems emerging in real-world applications such as the transportation network, control of autonomous and electric vehicles, and modeling of human behavior. 

Prof. Gabriela Hug and Prof. Florian Dörfler co-advise this PhD position. 

The existing power system operation architecture has organically grown over nearly a century, as new needs emerged, as technology and methods have advanced, and its recent development is also guided by the liberalisation of energy markets. In particular, energy balancing and frequency control nowadays rely on the classical three-level architecture of – sorted from seconds to hours – primary frequency control for stabilisation, secondary frequency control to regulate the frequency and area balancing error to a nominal value, and tertiary control to reschedule the grid operating point. As a result of increased distributed, renewable, and inverter-based generation this classical architecture reaches its limits due to faster and more fragile (low-inertia) dynamics, more uncertainty and disturbances, and the sheer scale of distributed generation. Hence, in this PhD project, the intention is to rethink the frequency control architecture for inverter-dominated power systems and evaluate in a structured way how much of which and where reserves are needed to keep the system stable when employing the proposed frequency control.

During your PhD studies, you are expected to dive into the modeling of the dynamics of low-inertia power systems and develop methods for the control of such systems at the fast time scales. You will carry out theoretical derivations and analyses but also implement simulations to test the developed methods. As part of your PhD studies, you will publish your work and present at scientific conferences. You will also assist in the supervision of semester and MSc theses and provide teaching assistance in courses taught by the advisors. 

As the position is part of the NCCR Automation, you will participate in center activities such as retreats or the bi-annual conference and interact with other researchers in the center.

The successful candidate fulfills the following requirements:

• an MSc degree in Electrical Engineering or related fields
• background in electric power systems and/or controls
• written and spoken fluency in English
• capability to work in an interdisciplinary manner
• creative and independent thinking 

Prior experience in research in the form of student projects is a plus. 

We particularly encourage people from underrepresented groups to apply. 

We provide you with a stimulating and collaborative environment in two research groups. Both groups are highly international and work on interdisciplinary problems. The NCCR Automation additionally offers the opportunity to closely network and interact on a regular basis with over 100 researchers and it provides support in terms of personal and career development.